No matter what we hear and what advice we receive before having kids, nothing truly prepares us for the real deal. I would say that the hardest part for me was the lack of sleep. Or more accurately, the interrupted sleep! I remember waking up a few days after my oldest son Kyle was born and checking in with my mom. When I told her that I got a total of 5 hours of sleep, it didn’t sound too bad. What I forgot to mention was that I woke up three to four times throughout a 9 hour period. They say that sleep deprivation is a form of torture, and now I get it. I feel like I’ll be spending the rest of my life trying to catch up on all of those sleepless nights. Granted, it was all well worth it, but complaining about it helps.
Of course, you shouldn’t have to “suffer” for long, and while your baby won’t have much of a sleep schedule or routine in the first 3 to 4 months of their life, there is a way to help you both sleep better at night. At a recent event, sleep expert Alanna McGinn from Goodnight sleepsite, shared some tips with new parents and Olympic athletes Mark Oldershaw and Annamay Pierse who continue to balance parenting, training and sleeping (both for themselves and their baby girl).
Four Key Sleep Tools
- Create Your Baby’s Sleep Sanctuary: Ensure your baby’s sleep environment is set for a good night’s sleep. This entails a room that is dark, quiet and the ideal room temperature. Use white noise machine, noise cancelling wall panels, and black out blinds to achieve ultimate sleep success. If you want sleep solutions tailored to your baby’s specific needs, you should consider hiring Luna Leaps – Baby Sleep Consultant.
- Introduce a Calming Bedtime Routine: For our family, this typically includes a bath, putting on Pampers diapers, pyjamas, stories and tuck-ins. Your bedtime routine may look different but the key is to make it consistent. Consider hiring baby sleep coaches to help you train your baby to sleep and improve his/her sleeping pattern.
- Make Naps a Priority During Daytime: Personally I had a hard time getting Kyle on a nap schedule but when I figured it out with Ryan and Nathan, it was completely life changing. Not only were they in better moods during the day and it helped them sleep better at night, but it gave me a few hours of “freedom”. I only wish that Ryan napped longer than three-years!
- Choose a Sleep Method for Your Family: Whatever plan you choose, you have to commit to it. You need to feel comfortable and hopefully easy for you to implement. I know I remember when we sleep trained Kyle at 6 months, I was 100% committed to sticking to the plan, no matter how “hard” it go listening to him cry. But guess what, it worked? And after 3 nights of following the plan, he learned to fall asleep on his own and slept through the night.
Another important part of the sleep routine is ensuring that you use great diapers like pampers to keep you baby dry and leek-proof through the night. The last thing you need is a mid-sleep wake-up call because you baby is wet.
Giveaway
To help you and your baby get a good night’s sleep, I’ve teamed up with Pampers to give away a $50 Pampers Prize Pack. Enter the giveaway via Rafflecopter (please give it a few seconds to load). Contest is open to all residents of Canada. Contest ends Thursday June 30, 2016.
My tip goes along with your 3rd tip. It’s important to remember that a baby that gets enough rest in the day will sleep better than one who doesn’t. Over-tired babies are harder to get to sleep and don’t sleep as long! My other tip is: It’s ok to miss things for your baby’s nap/bedtime!
my toddler still needs up to lie down with him before bed. I don’t mind casue I love the cuddles, but with our second I am going to be more strict. I don’t have any tips to share. I am looking forward to reading the tips
For baby and parents to have a good night’s sleep, I recommend a crib bumper so baby doesn’t hurt himself at night.
Those are actually no longer recommended as they cause SIDS.
each child is different, but I found a nice bath and a soothing massage with baby lotion calmed/relaxed mine.
Have a flexible sleep routine from the beginning…my little guy loved to be swaddled for naps too.
I would tell a new parent to make a sleep shedule.
Really no tips, just to make sure they are full and had a nice warm bath with lavender, and that’s pretty much it for me!
Sticking to a schedule is important I always put some music on which seems to help calm baby.
Being consistent and trying to keep a schedule is my best tip!
A nice bath before bed and a massage helps, also a sleep routine.
a nice bath seems to make them more relaxed and sleepy
Don’t wake a sleeping baby. If they are sleeping, they are tired.
A friend once told me “sleep begets sleep”. I didn’t understand it at first, but when my baby naps better, she is actually tired faster, and sleeps better later on. You’d expect the opposite that if they don’t sleep enough they are tired, but it doesn’t seem to work that way.
No tips about getting baby to sleep since every babies are different. But I found that for mine, if I gave him a nice bath and a little massage with baby lotion, it helps him to relax and he falls asleep faster
My sleeping tip for a new parent is to be aware that new babies sleep a LOT so learn the cues of tiredness (e.g. looking away from faces etc. (disengaging), rubbing eyes, sitting calmly etc), and you will find that your baby sleeps a lot better if you put them down for a nap before they get overtired (at that point fussing, crying etc). With my first newborn I often missed these simple cues and kept her up just a bit too long which led to having to try to put her to sleep, when it would have been much easier to do so if I had known she was ready earlier! Looking back I think she was ready to sleep every 2 hours or so as a newborn and I had no idea it would be that frequent (having had no prior experience with babies!).
Establishing a consistent routine as soon as possible is my best tip.
My babies have always slept better with a safe sleepsack on. I like the muslin material ones. Remember not to use them after the baby is able to roll over on their own.
Try not to rush it. The kiddos know if you aren’t reading all the words in the book, or are skipping pages, etc.
I would tell a new parent to try and get a routine going with feedings, napping, and other activities.
I find setting up a routine that you follow every night helps. We always did bath, massage with baby lotion, feeding and then a story time. We end it with a nice hug and kisses.
My sleeping tip to share with a new parent is set get baby on a routine and stick with it
Get your child used to noise while sleeping. It will make life much simpler.
Yup! But easier said than done. I think every child is different… But agree.
every baby is different. get help wehn you can so you can have naps
I always find that my girls have a really good sleep when they have a warm bath right before followed by a foot message and a story before bed
Start a routine early on
Have a wind-down time before attempting to kids to bed.
For babies, we used a sleepsack and they started breaking out of that- the zippadeezip worked wonders!
Establish a good routine and great sleep practices early. Don’t wait until they are 2 or 3!
I think a routine is important. I have a 2 week old and that’s what we’re trying to do 🙂
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Try sleeping when the baby does!
I really like a calming bedtime routine. For my 19 month old we do snack, bath, lotion and one episode of Backyardigans (while brushing our teeth) and it works well for him. For my 7 week old when he wakes in the night I keep his environment low key. Soft music, dimmed lights and rocking seem to work. I don’t want him to think that 3am is party time! And of course, I use Pampers to keep my boys dry throughout the night 🙂
My tip is to establish sleeping routines as early as possible. It takes lots of work but will pay off over time.
~Jonnie
Start a routine and stick with it for bedtime & naps. It does seem to help them.
Your baby will sleep when they are tired. Sometimes you just have to convince them of this. You’re doing a great job!
Besos Sarah.
stay with a routine and keep them in their own bed
I would definitely advise on sticking with a calming bedtime routine! I did that with my three girls, and ensure I’ve been consistent for the majority of the last five+ years!
We have a long, calm lead up to bedtime, Jammie time, quiet time, and then bed.
My sleeping tip would be that children love routine and that routine doesnt start right away. It can take a few months, take your time and don’t rush.
Swaddle swaddle swaddle in the beginning
We used the sleep sheep and that worked wonders for our little one. We also stuck to a routine from the beginning.
Every child is different thats for sure I made sure that the room was free from stimulents that would have the babies attention (as in lights) and rocked the baby for a short time to calm them then lay them in the crib to sleep. Pat their back for a few minutes and walk away
some babies do really well with some white noise, like a fan or from a little machine. helps block out the other household noise!
We have an app on our tablet with water noises and a flute, it works wonders
I like to use light blocking curtains to help baby sleep.
Be consistent with a sleep schedule.
DON’T THINK THEIR ISN’T A WAY TO SLEEP TRAIN YOUR BABY, CHECK OUT DIFFERENT IDEAS AND SEE WHAT CAN WORK WITH FOR YOU, AND IN THE END IF YOU HAVE CLOSE FAMILY AND FRIENDS DON’T HESITATE TO ASK FOR HELP, I WOULD GET CALLS FROM MY SISTER ALMOST IN TEARS ASKING IF I COULD COME OVER FOR A NIGHTSHIFT SO SHE COULD GET SOME SLEEP BECAUSE HER FIRST WAS NOT A GOOD SLEEPER. ANYTHING I COULD DO TO HELP HER GET THROUGH ANOTHER BAD NIGHT I WAS THERE FOR.
Do not have any distractions in the crib/bed. (toys, cups, books)
Honestly co sleep if you are breast feeding , then no one has to wake up completely and both you and baby are happy
Start with a routine very early on
When the baby is sleeping during the day have a nap too.
You definitely need to establish a routine and stick to it.
have quiet time before bed, read books, sing quiet songs
I would suggest getting into a nightly routine and sticking to it.
My tip is to sleep when the baby sleeps
they are going to hear it a lot but i would tell them sleep when baby is sleeping.